


A Skull or a Diamond?

by Angelwingsl3 (Marie_Fanwriter)



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Broken Bones, Budding Relationship, F/F, Light Whump, Post ME3, implied Ace characters, krogan rituals, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:55:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26237476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marie_Fanwriter/pseuds/Angelwingsl3
Summary: When injured on a Tuchunkan outing, Shepard finds herself worried. Thankfully, Miranda is there to put her back together-- perhaps in more ways than one.
Relationships: Miranda Lawson/Female Shepard
Comments: 8
Kudos: 55





	A Skull or a Diamond?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [natsora](https://archiveofourown.org/users/natsora/gifts).



> A gift for Natsora for my 100 follower giveaway on Tumblr! I hope you enjoy it.

\---

“I’m worried about Grunt.”

Miranda sighed. Of course, she was worried about the krogan. “He will be fine, Commander. The shuttle is only two kilometres from here.”

“Only two kilometres she says,” Shepard scoffed and crossed her arms. “Through the knee-deep brush, up a cliff-face and with all of Tuchunka’s wildlife to contend with.”

Overhead, a bird crowed as if to demonstrate her point.

“Would you have rather I left him to set your leg?” Shepard’s frown turned into a grimace as Miranda adjusted the foot resting on her thigh. The Commander was stripped of armour from the knee down, and a medical kit sat on the fallen tree beside them. “I’ll take that as a no.”

In the relative silence of Tuchunka’s overgrown forests, Miranda continued to dress the wound. It was a stupid injury. One that wouldn’t have been possible just a year ago, before the beam. Ever since the Reapers went offline, Shepard’s implants weren’t working correctly. Her bones would knit, but it would be days and not minutes or hours as before.

Medigel could only do so much for a fracture.

“Will you at least stop calling me, Commander?” Shepard hissed as Miranda tightened the splint in place. It would do until they could cast it in the medical bay.

The pair had spent more time together now than in all those months on the  _ Normandy _ while fighting against the Collectors. They’d grown closer. Still, it felt only right to address her by her title instead of her name in the field. It was easier-- professional distance and all that. Not that Miranda necessarily wanted it anymore. No, she could think of more than one way she would have liked to close that gap by now.

Another sigh. “Fine, Shepard.”

“Better,” she said around a shaky breath. From the way the muscles in her leg were visibly twitching, Miranda could tell it hurt. There wasn’t much to be done for that now. All they could do was wait. Grunt would return soon with the shuttle.

“Remind me,” Miranda began as she started packing up the supplies. Better to keep Shepard occupied with something than waiting in silence. It would help. “Why did you agree to this? I thought Grunt completed his rite already.”

Shepard swallowed and gave Miranda a small shrug. “Different rite. This one is for bonding. He has to find a varren skull or something.”

Miranda eyed her skeptically as she pulled off the medical gloves and stored them in the kit. “A skull.” She hadn’t asked why they were trekking through the wilderness when Shepard asked. She just went along with it. Perhaps an inquiry would have been prudent. “You fell off a cliff and broke your leg looking for a skeleton.”

“Not just any old bones!” she argued. Though, even the Commander seemed skeptical at this point. Miranda could tell by the knot in her brow. “Special ones.”

“Couldn’t he have bought one?”

Shepard huffed. “Now you sound like Garrus. Before Grunt’s clan rites, he suggested we take Grunt to Omega and buy him a dance. It’s not the same.”

“Only you, Shepard.” Miranda rose from her kneeling position at Shepard’s feet, and she joined her on the fallen-oven tree. With their armour, she couldn’t feel the other woman’s warmth, but perhaps it was for the best with the sticky Tuchunkan heat.

“Only me, what?”

Miranda turned to look at the woman she’d spent years of her life putting back together, and then another following into hell and back. The woman who helped her escape from yet another abusive man and saved her sister. “Only you would find it in your heart to care so much.”

A bright pink flush painted Shepard’s cheeks, and she looked away.

“I mean it,” Miranda continued. “Grunt lucked out. We all did.”

“Wrex would have taken him-- eventually,” she argued half-heartedly. “But he asked me. You’d do the same for Oriana. Wouldn’t you?”

Miranda considered it. “Perhaps, I would. But she’s my biological sister. Grunt is-- well, he’s Grunt.”

“Blood doesn’t matter,” Shepard said. The blush died away as she stared off into the trees. There was nothing nearby on their scanners, and their backs were to the cliff so nothing could sneak up on them. “I’d do the same for you, you know.”

“Don’t go breaking your other leg for my sake,” Miranda said in an attempt at humour. However, it was obvious what she meant.

Regardless, Shepard smiled. “Don’t tempt me.”

Her eyebrow rose, and Miranda regarded the other woman with a critical eye. Did that mean she wished to be tempted? She felt compelled to find out. “Call me old-fashioned, but I think I’d prefer a diamond.”

Shepard turned to look at her then. Her expression was miles deep, and she removed her gauntlet before offering a hand palm up. Miranda took it and could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as the Commander gently caressed her bare fingers. “I could see a diamond here,” she said. The tone of her voice was low, almost sultry. “A solitaire. Classy.”

While Miranda knew her heart wouldn’t literally skip a beat, she was keenly aware that it had begun to race. She’d never known Shepard to show interest in someone, let alone in her. Others had vied for her attention, and Miranda had watched them fail. While some became friends, others drifted away after rejection.

“Would--” Miranda stopped to find her words, and she was painfully aware of Shepard’s hand, leaving hers. Still, she couldn’t take the cowardly way out now. “Would you be interested in doing something together, just the two of us?”

“Like what?” 

Miranda followed the length of Shepard’s arm to her face. She saw curiosity there and a genuine smile. She hoped that was a good sign. “Perhaps we could start with dinner?”

“Dinner sounds nice,” Shepard agreed. “Maybe a vid, too?”

“I heard the Vaenia sequel is releasing soon,” Miranda suggested, hoping that the more romantic movie choice would indicate this was a date.

Before either of them could say more, the shuttle’s engine noise broke the threads of tension between them. Miranda looked up to see it descending into the small valley clearing. At least they didn’t need to hike out of here. The trek in had been more than enough, even before Shepard’s stumble.

“Shepard!” Grunt boomed from the open door as he lept the last ten metres to the ground while the autopilot finished the landing sequence. The ground shook a little with his weight. “Look!” he shouted, holding up his prize. “Found this on the way back. Heh. it’s a good one.” 

Indeed he had found a varren skull. Miranda could tell even from a distance as she helped the Commander stand. She shouldered the larger woman’s weight with relative ease. While it had been some time since Miranda fought on the front line, she was no stranger to helping her friend.

A wide smile broke out across Shepard’s face, and she clapped Grunt on the back when he came into range. There was pride in her expression now, like a mother would give to their child. Perhaps, she was right. Blood doesn’t matter.

\--


End file.
